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Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Totoro nails

My Neighbor Totoro is probably one of Miyazaki's most well-known films. For a lot of fans, this movie was an introduction to Miyazaki's amazing and wonderful world. (Princess Mononoke was actually the first Miyazaki movie I watched, but Totoro is way easier to translate into nail art.) His films are so captivating both in a narrative and visual sense, so I decided to pay tribute featuring Totoro (and friends) in today's nail art post.

If you haven't seen My Neighor Totoro--you should and preferably in the Japanese audio with English subtitles, because films are always better in their original language--it is a film about two young sisters who move to the countryside to be closer to their ill mother and discover the magical creatures that live in the surrounding forests. It's a really sweet and charming film and a great example of how Miyazaki often juxtaposes ordinary people with extraordinary creatures or settings. Other thing I love: how often do you see a movie with a broad target audience where both main characters are girls and it is not a princess movie? Exactly.

Back to the nails! Starting from the little finger, I painted a pattern resembling Totoro's belly, a white (small) Totoro, a Totoro head, the makkuro kurosuke/dust bunnies, and then Totoro's body/grass on the thumb (トトロ is "Totoro" in katakana.) I used OPI Alpine Snow as a base for the white nails, to paint white Totoro, and for all the eyes. I used the buttery colour of Zoya Jacqueline as the base for the little finger and Totoro's belly, and Clinique Hula skirt for the green grass. Revlon Stormy Night was used as the base for the ring finger and to paint Totoro's body. Black liquid acrylic paint was used for all the black bits.

Unexpectedly, my favourite nail and the one that turned out the best was the dust bunnies nail on the index finger. Using liquid acrylic paint gave a pretty crisp and opaque look to their black bodies and I love how they're all over the place. I wouldn't mind doing an entire set of nails just swarming with them!

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